I finished all of my reading for my final assignment in Penn
Foster College’s
English Composition course. All that is
left is to write the essay.
That’s the good news.
Unfortunately, when I started reading through the Persuasive
Writing Review and reading more about the essay assignment, I came across the
following sentence: “Since this essay is
your final exam – worth 30 percent of your course grade – you should spend
several weeks preparing your final draft, as you would studying for your final
exams.”
Several weeks? Crap.
Because I am nearing the end of my final extension period
with Penn Foster
College, I don’t have several weeks
to prepare and write this essay. At
best, I have six days.
The essay is a 900-1,500 word assignment which should “convince
the reader to agree with your position on an issue you’ve recently debated with
a friend, coworker, family member or yourself.”
I can only work with my own ideas or experiences. I cannot conduct any research or use any
outside sources for this essay. If I do,
I will earn 1% as a grade on the exam.
I could be in real trouble here. As a reporter, I have been up against some
tough deadlines before. However, this
essay has to be written a certain way, and this is a writing style that I am not
familiar with at all. On top of that, I
have NO IDEA whatsoever what I am going to write about. I guess that’s why I’m supposed to spend
several weeks with my prewriting and rough drafts.
I have several late nights ahead of me. I don’t means to sound like I’m whining. Plenty of college students have been up
against a tight deadline before, so it’s not like I’m the first to find
themselves in this position. However, I
have to admit…I’m a bit intimidated by the task before me.
My wife suggested I write about my opinions on the war in Iraq,
and argue my side of it. I actually
support the war. I was sent to the Persian
Gulf when I was in the military, during the Iran-Iraq War. This was a war which didn’t get much
attention here in the U.S.,
but I had to help send home several flag-draped caskets nonetheless. These were sailors that were killed during an
attack by an Iraqi missile. Iraq
was our ally at the time. They said it
was a mistake. With 37 Americans killed,
it was a costly one…and my first clue that Saddam Hussein was not our
friend.
The danger here is that the instructor grading my paper may
have a very strong opposite viewpoint, and grade my essay accordingly. This happened to me at a brick-and-mortar
college I studied at several years ago, so I’m a bit torn using this as a topic
for my essay.
Whatever I write about, I have to figure it out…fast.